


Cut The Rope and Let Me Fall

by becca_the_quiet_one



Series: They Spill, Unfound series [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Epilogue, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Oops, idk im confused now, sequel???, someone tell me how to tag please
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25350466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/becca_the_quiet_one/pseuds/becca_the_quiet_one
Summary: Glimmer grunts, decides there's plenty she still doesn’t know about her mother, and wonders if it’s possible to sleep standing up.Five years after the end of the war, everything is fine. Adora and Glimmer are happy, in love, and only a little bit broken. But when a chance discovery threats to uproot everything they've built together, is it enough?Epilogue/Sequel to They Spill, Unfound.
Relationships: Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Scorpia/Perfuma, one-sided Adora/Catra
Series: They Spill, Unfound series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1836250
Comments: 42
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Me, shoving everything I wanted to fit into They Spill but couldn't: "Get in there!"
> 
> Also me, remember I have at least one more work planned after this: "Nevermind! Not that one!"

Mornings are objectively terrible. This one is not different.

Glimmer groans as a knock at the door interrupts her dream, the fragments slipping away from her until she can no longer remember any part of it.

She slams her head back down into the pillow. And it had felt like such a nice one, too.

She calls out a muffled response to the knocker before rolling over. If she can’t continue her dream, then maybe-

Her arm hits cold sheets. Adora must’ve gone to train, or hang out with Swift Wind, or any one of those noble and incredibly frustrating things morning people do. 

She sits up and pouts as the royal stylists force their way into the room, blearily rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

The three ladies are old and elderly, and they’ve known her since she was in diapers. It is for these reasons only that Glimmer allows herself to be dragged from bed, and prodded into a standing position. The tallest of the three takes pity on her, and reminds her that, in order for her to be dressed properly in the ceremonial garb of the Khovi, she must endure a two hour dressing process.

A second lady, smaller, flits about her rapidly. She wraps a measuring tape around her waist, drawing it up until it rests just under her growing wings.

That makes Glimmer straighten up, momentarily. They’re going to grow in soon. Her father had described it to her, the way her mother had been waylaid for several days, before emerging with the translucent appendages Glimmer remembers so fondly. 

Also according to her father, and much to her surprise, apparently she’d immediately taken a nosedive out the nearest window, just to “test them out”.

Glimmer grunts, decides there's plenty she still doesn’t know about her mother, and wonders if it’s possible to sleep standing up.

It isn’t, and two hours later, after she’s been plucked and primmed and stuffed into what can only be described as a spiders prom dress, Glimmer is more than ready to begin her day. 

Until, of course, a second knock at the door arrives. A messenger pops their head in to inform Glimmer that while the Khovi send their apologies, they’ve been delayed by a mysterious bout of red lightning, and will not arrive until late morning.

Glimmers left eye twitches, and she makes a mental note to send Bow and Entrapta a strongly worded message later.

For now, though, she’s been freed from the watchful eyes of the stylists, only with expressed promises to not ruin her dress.

Glimmer sighs as she walks down the hall to get breakfast. She’s really too old and too powerful to be scared of punishment, and yet the threat of what the stylists may do to her if she gets anything on this dress makes her shiver.

She sighs, abandoning her quest for food. Abruptly her schedule has gone from packed to vacant, and the adjustment leaves her aimless and  _ bored.  _

She ends up wandering down the long halls in search of entertainment. Bow and Entrapta are away in Dryl, studying the Black Garnet. Scorpia and Perfuma are busy on their honeymoon. Catra resides nearly permanently in Salineas these days, rebuilding what she’d broken so many years ago. Frostas a moody teenager, and wants to be left alone most days. And Mermistas probably still mad at her for helping Sea Hawk set his boat on fire last week.

Which leaves-

A loud  _ twack  _ echoes down the hall. Hearing it, Glimmer immediately walks faster, grinning.

_ Ah, my favorite way to pass the time. _

Even during the war, Bright Moon never had any kind of training ground. Her parents thought it was inviting trouble to have weapons and fighting so close to where some very valuable heads slept unawares. 

And as frustrated as that left teenage Glimmer, adult Glimmer is both thankful for the safety and annoyed by the fact that Adoras taken to using her garden instead.

“Hey!” She calls out, leaning against the doorway as she takes in the view. “I know my gardening sucks, but could you not step on the carnations? They’re the one thing I can actually get to grow.”

“Ah,” Adora glances down as she slashes through a training dummy. “My bad.”

Adoras been up for awhile, clearly. She’s seriously sweaty, and her clothes are covered in mud and straw from the dummies she’s destroyed. She pants as she staggers back, resheathing her sword into her side. No She-Ra today, apparently.

Still though, she’s completely in her element, practically  _ glowing  _ as she relaxes her stance and smiles at Glimmer. “Good morning.”

“It is now.” Glimmer smiles. “Meeting got moved til later. Wanna be really bored with me?”

Adora chuckles. “Thanks, but I’m trying to work on handling this new sword. I’ve almost got it.”

“I have no doubts.” Glimmer frowns. “But I’m still bored and it’s too early. We could do something here, if you want?”

“No thanks.” Adora skirts around the training ground, picking up another dummy. “But I’ll see you at lunch?”

_ Oh, so she’s playing hard to get this morning.  _ Glimmer smirks.  _ Two can play at that game _ .

“We could spar?” She offers, flouncing over to Adora. “I know you’ve been looking for a partner.”

“No way.” Adora says, setting the straw dummy in front of her. “And I’m not ‘looking for a partner’, I’m just need someone who won’t look like they’re gonna pass out if I ask.”

Glimmer hums appreciatively. Adoras no less intimidating than she was when they were teenagers. No less strong or  _ magnificently  _ buff, either. “Can’t imagine why.”

“Riiight.” Adora rolls her eyes and smiles. “Like your face isn’t saying exactly what you’re thinking right now.”

“Excuse you,” Glimmer scoffs. “It’s saying “I really wish my girlfriend would listen to me and play-fight me so I can be relieved of my incredibly boredom brought by this incredibly tedious morning.’”

“I’ll come get you after your meeting,” Adora offers, getting into position. “We can do something fun then?”

“What?” Glimmer teases. “Is the  _ mighty She-Ra  _ afraid she’s gonna lose?”

“Of course not.” Adora rips the head from the dummy. “But she’s a little afraid of messing up your outfit before your big meeting.”

“Oh come on,” Glimmer pouts. “I hate this thing. I can take it off, if you want?”

And finally Glimmer's day starts getting better, because seeing Adoras face turn red and mutter curses as she drops her sword will never not be funny.

“You should see your face right now.” She giggles. “I was kidding. I think I’d need three hands and a rubber tube to get this thing off.”

“Har har.” Adora deadpans, though her face is still flustered. “Very funny.”

“Yes, extremely.” Glimmer walks towards her, strutting just a little. “Come on, you’re all warmed up and this thing is restricting. It’ll be over in like two seconds and then I won’t bother you for… well, at least a few minutes.”

It’s a huge lie, of course. Unexpected free time is so rare that she plans on making the most of it. With Adora.

“Hey now,” Adora admonishes lightly. “You can take me in a fight any day. Just not  _ this  _ day.”

“And you know you’re never bothering me, right?” Adora teases, cheeks getting a little more flushed.

“Prove it.” Glimmer stretches her arms above her head, something she knows makes Adora  _ very  _ distracted. 

Adora sighs, deep and dramatic and entirely false. “Fine. But if your dad gives me a funny look at that meeting, it’s on you.”

“Yes!” Glimmer cheers, doing a tiny fistbump to herself. “Thank you sweetheart!”

“What, are we using pet names now?” Adora smirks, dropping her sword and walking to the ring. “Alright then,  _ Sparkle Butt. _ ”

Glimmer laughs. “Oh, it’s on now.”

Adora wins, because of course she does. 

Glimmers only a little embarrassed when Adoras flex is enough to make her falter in her swinging step. Adora grins, a little vicious around the edges, and then Glimmers flat on her back.

Not a terrible place to be, she thinks as Adora holds her loosely down by her wrists. The gleam in Adoras eyes is playful, and Glimmers almost willing to ignore the pain in her ego. Then Adora leans down to give her a kiss on the lips, and suddenly they’re both winners.

“Okay, okay, I give.” Glimmer laughs as Adora pulls away to peck her cheek, her face, her neck. “Now let me up, this stupid dress is gonna rip.”

“Hmmm…” Adora feigns ignorance, then drops her weight down, pinning Glimmer fully. “Nah.”

“Adoraaaa.” Glimmer whines as she feels raspberries being blown on her neck. “It’s too early for this!”

“Oh yeah?” Adora turns to face her, smirking. “Whatcha gonna do about it, Princess?”

Glimmer wrestles one of her hands free, running her palm up along deliciously defined biceps to cup Adoras face, leaning in so they’re only a hair's breadth away. “This.”

Summoning the strength from god knows where, Glimmer swings one of her legs around Adoras hips and pushes, revelling in the shock on Adoras face.

She ends up straddling Adoras hips, a move that Adora could throw off very easily. But from the way Adoras eyes darken and her hands slide up to her waist, Glimmers pretty sure she doesn’t want to.

“I win.” Glimmer leans back, allowing Adora to sit up and, gloriously, wrap her arms around her waist.

“You win.” Adora agrees, thumb rubbing at the waistband of her dress.

“And you were wrong.” Glimmer crows, cupping Adoras face.

“I was… not right.” Adora pointedly refuses to look her in the eyes, and it just makes Glimmer laugh.

Adoras pride looks wounded, and as funny as Glimmer thinks that is, she decides to kiss it better anyways. Adora responds in kind, meeting her halfway. She squeezes Glimmers waist, tugging her closer so their chests are flush. Adora hums, content, and accidentally-on purpose runs her hands along the tender underside of Glimmers wings. Glimmer stiffens in her arms, and on instinct presses impossibly closer.

Glimmer pulls away gasping. “You’d better not be planning on starting something you can’t finish.”

Adora grins, wicked. “Who says I can’t?” 

“I have- meetings.” Glimmer gasps as Adora runs a finger along the tender skin between each stem. “Important stuff. To do.”

That makes Adora snicker against her neck. “I thought you wanted to find out what to do?

Glimmers face turns even redder. “That was five years ago! Are you ever going to let me live that down!?”

“Nope.” Adora giggles loudly, and blessedly moves her hands from Glimmers wings to her face. “You’re so cute.”

“Stop that.” Glimmer rolls her eyes. “I am the all-powerful Queen of Bright Moon. I am  _ not _ cute.”

Adora gives her a frankly dopey smile, one that Glimmer simply must kiss right off her face. When she breaks away for air, she's not surprised to find that it didn’t work.

_ Soft,  _ Glimmer thinks as Adora helps her to her feet and doesn’t let go of her hand, smiling the whole way.  _ She makes me feel soft. _

“Want to get breakfast together before your meeting?” Adora gives her a bright, beaming smile and puppy eyes, and it’s almost enough to make her forget her busy schedule. “They made… uh, I think they’re called cream puffs? I don’t know, it was something puffy?”

_ What a wonderful thing to be. _

Glimmer slides her arm up, linking their elbows together. “Lead the way, sunshine.”

_________________________________________________________________________

Her promise to Adora at the defeat of Horde Prime had, admittedly, come with a stipulation. She’d follow Adora wherever she could, always, and she’s kept her word. In five years she’s seen dozens of brand new worlds remade and reborn in magic, and been unable to tear her eyes away from Adora for any second of it.

But as sole ruler of Bright Moon it’s not easy to step away. Her fathers willing to help out occasionally, take care of things for a few days while she helps Adora in any way she can.

But the Moth people of Albernia only emerge from their caves once every ten moons, and it’s already taken far longer than it should to negotiate a meeting time with them. Rescheduling once again would mean that the towns in the western corner of Bright Moon go without the necessary farming equipment for even longer, posing a critical threat to the winter rations of the entire region. Something she’d feel absurdly guilty leaving in her father's hands.

Glimmer groans. Politics is a necessary beast, and yet one she finds squarely and unfairly resting on her shoulders.

“You sure you can’t wait just a few more days?” She whines, flouncing back on their bed while Adora gathers supplies into a bundle. 

Adora rolls her eyes at her, bemused. “No, I’ve already had to push this one back because Prospera and Sonzore sent out emergency distress signals this month.”

“They’ve waited for thousands of years and they can’t wait another week?” She rolls onto her side, looking at Adora with pleading eyes. 

Adora gives her a pointed look. “Glimmer.”

“I know.” Glimmer shakes her head. “I just hate the thought of you going alone.”

Adoras look softens. “It can’t be helped. Besides, I got this.”

“Bow and Entrapta are almost done with their analysis of the Black Garnet.” Glimmer tries. “If you wait just a little-”

“No more waiting.” Adora shakes her head. “I have to do this now.”   


The look in her blue eyes is intensely focused, the way it so often is when she talks about restoring magic to the universe. It makes Glimmer soften, placing one of her hands over Adoras rapidly moving ones.

“It’s not your responsibility to help them, you know.” Glimmer says gently. “Just because your ancestors messed with their magic, you aren't obligated to fix it.”

It makes Adora relax, smiling as she laces their fingers together. “Thank you. And I’m not doing it just because She-Ra is the only one who can. I just… I want to help them.”

She and Adora are not the same people who’d once tousled over a golden sword in the middle of the Whispering Woods. They’ve grown and changed, broken and knit themselves back together. Peace had changed them both more than war ever had, and they each had scars that would never truly fade. And yet, sometimes the reminders of just how  _ deep  _ her admiration for Adoras bravery, her kindness, and her boundless heart make the butterflies in her stomach flutter like she’s falling all over again.

“I love you.” Glimmer says, and means it.

“I love you too.” Adora kisses her on the cheek as she finishes packing. “I’ll be back in three days.”

_ Screw that,  _ Glimmer thinks, and tugs her down for a kiss on the lips instead.

It’s enough to make Adora drop her pack and take either side of Glimmers hips in her hands, an action that makes Glimmer loop her arms around Adoras shoulder to pull her closer. Glimmer turns her lips to the skin of Adoras neck, and smiles at her giggles. Adora slips her hands up Glimmers waist and under her shirt, hands warm as they rest just under her wings.

A quick, hard knock at the door pulls them out of their own little world and away from each other. Adora groans as she lets go, straightening her ruffled clothes and reaching for her pack. Glimmer sighs as she does the same, standing to address the intruder.

“Just one minute!” She calls.

“Very well your Majesty!” The servant on the other side responds, and then she hears the sounds of them scurrying away.

Glimmer sighs, and feels Adora wrap her arms around her waist from behind.

“Just... try not to do anything stupid.” Glimmer grumbles. 

Adora hums, noncommittally. 

“It’s just three days,” She says, hot breath tickling Glimmer's ear and making her squirm. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“You’d better.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Two weeks later, there’s still no word from Adora.

Somehow, Glimmer keeps herself composed throughout her talks with the Albernians. She is every inch the sober, calculating regent she’d been raised to be, and puts on a satisfied face when all of her demands are met. 

And yet, the second the last of their carriages leave Bright Moon, she’s gone. She teleports faster than she ever has before, right to the one place where she can fall apart.

“Bow!” She materializes in front of her best friend in an instant, ignoring his yelp of surprise and the papers he drops. “Anything?!”

“No!” He jumps back, but softens when he sees the panic in her eyes. “We’re still tracing Darlas flight pattern.”   


“And?” Glimmer tries, resisting the urge to shake his shoulders in frustration.

Bow just shakes his head.

Entraptas lab has only grown more impressive with time, the constant whirring of machines and tangles of cables seeming to grow louder and longer by the day. Entrapta sits glued to one of the large computer screens, utterly transfixed by the roving star maps and glowing constellations. Glimmers half tempted to join her, wishing with her whole being that a familiar red dot will appear on the screen and ease the worry she's drowning in.

She wrings her hands in front of her. “I hate this. I never should’ve let her go alone.”

“Hey, this is not your fault.” Bow wraps a comforting arm around her shoulders. “And Swift Wind says their connection isn’t in trouble, so we know she must be okay.”

“But we still don’t know where she is!” Glimmer fires back. “And if she’s not hurt, then why hasn’t she called?”

Bow looks away, face grave. “I don’t know. But we have to stay positive.”

Glimmer clenches and relaxes her hands, trying to do the breathing exercises Perfumas instructed her in. Her throat feels tight, the room feels impossibly small. Sweat pools on her brow as chills race up her spine.

“I can’t do this, Bow.” She whimpers. “I can't…”

He shushes her, rocking gently back and forth. “It’s okay. We’ll find her.”

She wraps her arms around his midsection. “Thank you.”

“Oh, now that’s interesting!” Entraptas voice makes Glimmers eyes pop open, and she teleports across the room so fast that Bow nearly falls over in her absence.

“What is it?!” She cries, immediately darting her eyes across the screen. “What happened!?”

Entrapta beams up at her. “Emily 27 has learned how to operate the Dryl cleaning system! All by herself!”

Silence crackles across the lab. Bow fears for his life.

“Entrapta.” Glimmer grinds out, tone deadly sweet. “What  _ exactly  _ does this have to do with Adora?”

“Absolutely nothing!”

Glimmer takes a step back and barely, just barely, manages to not wrap her hands around her friends neck. 

“Oookay!” Bow jumps between them, blocking Glimmer's view of Entraptas' oblivious, extremely slappable smile. “Glimmer, maybe you should go get some sleep?”

“I don’t need sleep!” She yells, feeling very much like she’s at an impasse. “I need to find her!”

“Glimmer!” Bow scolds. “Enough! Don’t you think that I’m worried too?!”

It calms her down, no matter how frustrated she still feels. “I know you are!”

“She’s my best friend too, Glimmer.” Bows voice turns quiet, and he struggles around his words. “But you have to take care of yourself. She’d want you to.”

Glimmer sighs, deep. “Okay. I’ll shower and come back here.”

Bow gives her a pointed look that makes her wither. “You need to eat and sleep too.”

“... I’ll stop by the kitchens and grab something, alright?” She says, spinning on her heels to leave. 

Bow grabs her arm, holding her back. “Glimmer. Sleep.” 

It sounds like the worst idea she’s ever heard. She’s been avoiding their room since the fifth night, when she first started to realize that something was very, very wrong. The shared closets, the pile of horse plushies in the corner, the unique scent of sandalwood and honey Adora leaves in their bedsheets. It all makes her head spin, and her chest cave with loneliness and with fear.

But she’s so, so tired. And lately the only way she can get to sleep is with the hope that Adora will be there when she wakes up.

“Fine.” She huffs. “Fine. But I’ll be back in a few hours. And you’d better come get me the instant something happens.”

“Hey,” Bow calls after her as she stalks off. “You know I love you, right?”

“Ugh.” She groans, but smiles for the first time in weeks. “Yeah, yeah. Same here.”

It’s dark in the hallways as she creeps towards her room, summoning a sparkle blast in her hand to light the way. The stars that shine through the tall windows are ever luminous tonight. Glimmer wishes Adora was here to share them.

She her hand hovers above the handle of her bedroom door. She could sleep in a spare room, of course. Bow would probably even lend her his if she so asked. But, it feels like cowardice. She’s the Queen of Bright Moon, she’s faced Death and destruction and come through it all with swords swinging and head held high. 

Not for the first time, she wonders how her mother handled it, losing her father. And again, a voice reminds her. Angella had Glimmer, and a lot more at stake if she lost her composure

Glimmer shakes the thoughts from her head and turns the doorknob. She feels bad enough already, she doesn’t need to think about this tonight.

She rubs her crusty eyes as she enters the room, adjusting to the light of a single candle burn-

Wait.

She doesn’t leave candles burning, ever. Not since that one time Adora had read a children's book about camping and set fire to their dresser trying to make a campfire.

She rubs her eyes again, just to make sure, before-

“Adora!” 

The figure hunched over on their bed lurches, long blonde hair spilling over the sheets. Starlight streams in through the window, illuminating the pale and blessedly unmarred skin of her arms and neck.

“Where were you?!” She screeches as she runs forward, more than ready to make up for missed time. “When did you get back?! What happened?!”

Adoras face turns to her, masked in a way Glimmers never seen before. And to her horror, Adora shrinks away from her, tears streaming down her face.

Glimmer doesn’t think she can  _ do  _ comfort right now, she’s too elated and angry and  _ scared, why isn’t Adora flying into my arms right now and groveling for making me worry? _

She takes a few cautious steps back, even though it stings like she’s been burned. “Baby, are you okay?”

Still, Adora doesn't respond.

Glimmers heard broken bits about what happened when she was gone. Her father refuses to broach the subject at all, and Bow can barely stutter out a few words without bursting into tears. Catra was the one to tell her, through flattened ears and blank stares, that the pure  _ despair _ Adora had fallen into, however briefly, was more chilling than She-Ra could ever hope to be. Glimmer believes her.

But the look in Adoras eyes is not despair. Its confusion, doubt, an utter lack of the conviction she has in droves.

Then Adora reaches for her, arms trembling and outstretched in a silent plea, and desperation floods the mix.

Glimmer nearly flies over, and lets Adora engulf her. Pale arms wrap tight around her waist, and Adora buries her head in her neck before Glimmer can even get her arms around her.

“Adora,” Glimmer keeps her voice carefully level, unwavering. “What happened? Where were you?”

A single, choked sob is all the answer she receives. Adora clings even together, pressing them so close together Glimmer thinks she hears something crack. But she doesn’t care. She’d break each and every one of her bones if it meant seeing the anguish disappear from Adoras eyes.

She’s overwhelmed, Glimmer realizes. It’s something that happened often throughout the war, an unfortunate byproduct of the sudden uprooting of her whole existence. 

Adora’s had to do a lot of self-reflection over the years. Examining a life she’d never had much time to fully contemplate, it hurts Glimmer to know that Adora doesn’t always like what she finds.  _ What ifs  _ keep them both awake at night, and all too often Glimmer will wake to find Adora struggling to come to terms with decisions she’d been too young and too  _ Adora  _ to fully comprehend. And yet, somehow this feels different.

Glimmer maneuvers them gently down to the bed, her arms wrapping around Adora not nearly as tight as she’d like. But the gentle pressure of her arms is enough to keep Adora grounded, not constricted.

Glimmer heaves and grunts softly as she rolls Adora on top of her. She’s limp and heavy, and Glimmer can’t breathe until Adora shifts, robotically and spaced out like she’s acting purely on instinct. Perhaps she is. The number of times this morbid ritual has calmed her down is immeasurable by this point.

Her throat constricts as Adora, brave and beautiful and hurting, tucks herself against Glimmers chest. Her ear presses against the familiar collection of razor-thin scars, hidden by her shirt, that she’s traced with her fingers, her lips, a thousand times.

Five years ago, the shape of those scars glowed softly on her chest. Privately, and in the tiny part of her mind where she keeps the things she’ll never tell anyone, she’d do again. Because the thought of Adora with the shape of the Failsafe etched permanently on her skin...

Glimmer holds everything back. They can’t both fall apart right now.

Adoras hair is wild, messy, and free. Glimmer hesitates, before bringing one of her hands down to her chest and gently combing through the wild blonde strands. It makes Adora shudder, and Glimmer almost pulls her hand away before Adora relaxes fully against her chest, her breathing beginning to even out with the sound of Glimmers heartbeat.

_ Thud thud.  _ In.  _ Thud thud.  _ Out.

The room gradually falls silent. Adora breathes deep and heavy, as though she was asleep with wide, unseeing eyes.

Glimmer's mind runs so much faster than her body. It feels like lightning crawls under her skin, jittery and electric. She forces herself to breathe, slowly in and out so Adora won’t know she’s panicking on the inside.

A thousand terrible scenarios runs through her head, each more gruesome and implausible than the next. But what else is she supposed to do?

She trails her hand down Adoras cheek, ghosting over faded scars. There’s only a few things in the world that could ever make Adora break down like this, and she’s one of them. She’s kept that particular seed of self-hatred flowering for nearly five years now, and in her all too frequent nightmares she still sees blue eyes shatter, and hears screams that make the scars on her chest ache with regret.

The thought that there could be another, that there's something unknown to her in the great, wide universe that could cause Adora this level of pain is utterly terrifying, and it makes her want to hold the girl in her arms ever tighter.

Still, the relief of having Adora back, safe and sound and in her arms, is enough to make the stress of the last two weeks seem residual. Glimmer sighs. Whatever it is, they’ll figure it out, they always have. 

Glimmer takes one of Adoras hands from where they grip the sheets, brings it to her lips and gently kisses a limp knuckle. Adora will tell her when she’s ready. Until then, Glimmer can try and make herself content in being able to do this for her.

But the action makes Adora start, body tensing again. Glimmers stomach sinks to her feet. She drops Adoras hand quickly, but she finds it quickly snatched back up again. Adora twists her neck to look up at Glimmer, her face showing the first brief signs of the familiar clarity usually etched there. Adoras eyes are calmer, but no less saturated in confusion and pain.

She whispers, so soft that Glimmer can barely hear it. “Thank you.”

“Hey,” Glimmer can’t keep the fondness out of her voice, “Of course.”

“I’m sorry.” Adora chokes on her words, squeezing Glimmers hand tight. “You… I know you were worried and I’m  _ really  _ sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Glimmer quickly says, even though it very much wasn’t. “You’re here now.”

“I… I, uh…” Adora squeezes her eyes shut and pauses, breathing again turning rapid.

Glimmer shushes her, hands stroking soothingly up and down her back in wide motions. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me  _ anything  _ if you’re not ready.”

Adoras voice drops back down, and she presses her face back into the top of Glimmer's chest. “I… I think I  _ need _ to talk about it?”

The practice of identifying what her feelings were, and how she wanted to express them, was something Adora had dealt with extensively in her sessions, and still struggles with to this day. And yet, even if it's as tiny as the joy she feels tasting a brand new food for the first time, the amount of trust Adora places in her is awe-inspiring and steals Glimmer's breath and love every time.

“Then I can listen.” Glimmer assures her, giving her the most comforting smile she can muster. “When you feel like you can share.”

Adora falls silent again, and Glimmer dreads that she’s pushed too far. Alarm bells blare in her head, but the only noise she can hear is the thump of her heart, getting faster the longer it takes Adora to speak.

But then she does speak, and the rhythm of Glimmers heart loses its tempo.

“I have a brother.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVE

_ Two weeks earlier _

Adora squints at the star maps in front of her. Ideally, she’d already be on course to the planet calling themselves Ahiri. The path from one blue dot to another on Darlas translucent screens is a clear, straight line.

She clutches onto the armrests of her Captains chair as Darla reels back and forth in an erratic dance.

“Darla!” She braces herself in her Captains chair. “Are you  _ sure  _ everything’s alright with your systems?!”

“Every program is running at optimal performance. Would you like an itemized list of my apparatus?” Her smooth voice rings out through the cabin.

A jolt nearly knocks her out of her seat. “No! Just the stabilizers! Why aren’t they running and how soon can you fix it?!”

Darla makes a few steady beeps as Adora struggles to not get thrown about the cabin. The hull of the ship nearly does a barrel roll and for a moment she seriously contemplates riding outside the ship as She-Ra. Who cares about the fact that she needs air after a few minutes?

Darla returns with a  _ ding.  _ “Last systems update on stabilizers was performed three weeks ago, during which the main fluid compounder and all four engine connections were severed.”   
  
“What!” Adora shrieks as a wrench previously resting on top of a box hurls itself towards her head. “How are they supposed to run without power?!”

“My calculations would suggest that they are not.” Darla returns. “I suggest that we return to Etheria to complete the necessary repairs.”

Adora suppresses a whine. “These people need my help. Are you sure we can’t get to this planet without them?”

Around her, the ship seems to rumble in disapproval. “While possible, it is not recommended as it could cause structural integrity to fail by upwards of 30%.”

Adora weighs her options. On one hand, the disappointed look on Bow's face when he realizes that she ignored safety precautions is enough to make her squirm in her seat. On the other, the thought of having to send a message out to the Ahiri saying that she’d be delayed  _ again _ , and they’d have to hang in there for  _ even longer,  _ wounds her pride.

Then she thinks about having to go home to Glimmer and tell her that, not only was she wrong about not needing anyone for this mission, but she didn’t even get to help those who had asked for her assistance in the first place.

She sighs. “We’re going, Darla. Maybe we can find someone to fix you up while we’re there.”

The next large bump lifts Adora out of her chair, and she’s pretty sure that one was on purpose.

They continue the next several hours like that. Just as Adora thinks she’s gotten comfortable, a new wave of shaking and bumping begins. It rattles her teeth, and she’s sure her arms will bruise from being thrown to and fro.

“Just who messed with you anyways Darla?” She groans as her elbow knocks into the arm of the chair.

“Retrieving maintenance logs now.” Darla makes several contented little humming noises, as they hit a particularly rough patch of what feels like turbulence.

“Records show that systems engineer removed the components before noticing a problem with the auxiliary power generator. Engineer did not return to the problem at hand, nor did she replace the components.”

“ _ Entrapta. _ ” Adora grumbles. “Darla, make a note: We need to have  _ another  _ conversation with her about finishing projects before starting new ones.”

“It f-feels like its- getting worse!” She says before she’s abruptly thrown to the floor by the force of a loud  _ bang.  _

“Affirmative.” Darla returns. “System corruption is leading to structural failure. Immediate repairs are advised.”

_ Oh, great. _

Okay, so Glimmer was right and she definitely should’ve taken at least one of their two tech geniuses with her. Adora groans. Well, at least her girlfriend would be happy (and smug) about the massive blow to her ego

“Darla, turn around.” She sighs. “Lets… go home.”

The ship doesn’t respond.

“Darla?”

The lights in the cabin dim to red as alarms begin blaring.

_ System. Failure. System. Failure. Administrator key required. _

Adora struggles to her feet as the floor beneath her shakes violently. Through the windows she can see bits and pieces of Darlas exterior begin to break away. Panic rises in her stomach and she braces herself against the window.

“Darla!” She commands. “What’s going on?”

_ Gravitational generator is now offline. _

_ Uh oh. _

She barely has time to panic, before the stars around her turn into blazing streaks of light and her stomach twists itself inside out. Darla plunges downwards, throwing Adora towards the back of the cabin and pinning her there. She struggles to keep her eyes open against the pressure, her arms feel like they weigh too much to move.

Still, she struggles to command her sword, feeling the familiar determination surge through her.

_ Glimmer will kill me if I die here. _

“For the Honor of- Ugh!”

___________________________________________________________________________

Her dream is the sort she hasn’t had in a long time.

The edges of her vision are fuzzy soft, like looking through a wet window. The trees around her suggests she’s in the Woods, maybe. But the air smells so strongly of Bright Moon mornings it’s disorientating. 

She feels… soft. Loose and relaxed. There’s a distant, indistinct ache in her brain that tells her she’s forgetting something important. A bigger, brighter force that feels so familiarly  _ pink  _ drowns it out.

At once she’s aware of a hand drawing absent circles on her shoulder. Skilled fingers trace complicated patterns, ghosting over corded muscle. Gently, deftly, short, stubby nails rake down her arm. Adora sighs, curling into herself in pleasure.

Five years of being together, plus the three where she was too confused and too busy and too  _ stupid, utterly stupid  _ to figure it out. In total, she’s spent nearly a decade loving Glimmer. 

It doesn’t mean she doesn't lose her breath every time she sees her.

Her heads in Glimmers lap, cheek cushioned by soft, pillowy thighs. Adora looks up. They’re surrounded by stars, by constellations Adora only half remembers the name of. She couldn’t be bothered to care, not when Glimmer steals the light from every star to smile down at her.

“Hey.” Glimmers hair is still above her shoulders, and it falls in front of her eyes in a way it hasn’t in years. Her whole face looks younger too, the way it was the first time Adora kissed her. “Don’t they look gorgeous tonight?”

Adora grins, knowing her smile errs on the goofy side as she traces the constellations of Glimmers irises. “Sure do.”

It’s how she knows she’s dreaming. Real-Glimmer would tell her to knock it off, then make a flirty comment with a deep red blush to ruin it’s effect. Then she would slip her hand into Adoras, or around her shoulders, or her waist. Silent and heavy in a way that says  _ please don’t ever stop.  _ And Adora would reach for whatever part of her she could, hands clinging and saying  _ never.  _

But Dream-Glimmer lets her keep staring and just giggles. “Keep that up and I’m gonna start to think you  _ like  _ me or something.”

Oh. So it’s one of  _ those  _ dreams. The temperature of the salty air drops, and Adora shivers just a little. “Of course I do. You’re… my best friend.”

It’s not like it isn’t true. She’s the first person Adora will run to for any kind of comfort, for security, for laughter. Glimmer knows every inch of her inside out, maybe even better than Adora knows herself. 

“But what about Bow?” Glimmer returns her gaze to the stars. “And Catra?”

“They’re both my best friends too. ” Adora pauses, trying not to let it break her heart. “But you’re… you’re the most important person to me, Glim. Always.”

Glimmer stills the actions of her hand. “That’s… really nice, Adora.”

“Thanks.” Adora squeezes her eyes shut. 

_ This isn’t real.  _ She tries to breath, feeling the inevitable cold stone sink into her stomach.  _ Glimmer loves me. _

“Uh… no problem.” Glimmer begins to scoot away, and Adora takes the cue to move her head, already missing her warmth.

An awkward silence falls, and the stars around them begin to go dark. 

“I guess I should… I should go.” Glimmer stands up, and it makes Adora flinch. 

“Wait.” She calls, rushing to her feet. “Wait, Glimmer, I’m sorry.”

She catches Glimmer by the wrist as she turns away, fingers desperately gripping. “Don’t go. I’m sorry.”

“I’m just not enough for you, Adora.” Glimmer's voice is flat. “You’ll always be looking for more, won’t you?”   


“You’re my  _ everything,  _ Glim.” Adora insists. “Please, stay. I love you.”

Suddenly, the wrist she holds turns burning cold, and even though it kills her to let go she drops it in shock.

“You love me?” Glimmer's voice is still flat, but the little note of surprise makes itself known. Her wrist falls loosely to her side.

“Of course I do.” Adora feels tears spring to her eyes. “I love you so, so much.”

Glimmer doesn’t answer, and the world around them falls away to pure black.

Then Glimmer turns, tripping a little over her own feet in a way that’s so comfortingly  _ Glimmer  _ it makes Adora want to sob.

Then her breath catches in her throat and she chokes on it, falling to her knees and unable, for the second time, to tear her eyes away from the glowing, pulsing collection of lines on Glimmer's chest.

Glimmers lips twist, forming into a rotten smile as the light leaves her eyes. “If you love me so much...

“No.” Adora stumbles back. “No, this isn’t real.”

She scurries back, tries to escape the glare of Glimmers dead eyes. Her vision tunnels and spins. Her stomach fills with bile and her blood turns to acid in her veins.

“Wake up,  _ wake up.”  _ She begs into the void, furiously trying to run. “This isn’t real!”

Her back hits a treelshe swears wasn’t there a minute ago, and she cowers.

“Please, stop.” She begs, throwing her arms over her face. “I can’t do this again.”

Glimmer smiles at her as she steps closer, something normally so reassuring that now slices through her so sharply she physically hurts. Each step seems to pain Glimmer now as she steps forward, the Failsafe growing ever brighter, nearly pulsing as it seems to suck the life out of her.

Glimmer gets so close and not far enough before she collapses, tumbling down to the floor with a  _ thunk  _ that makes Adora want to throw up.

Even if it’s a dream, even though she knows it’s not really Glimmer, she can’t help herself. Her feet move before her mind does and a yell tears itself free from her throat. 

“I got you.  _ I got you.”  _ She’s on Glimmer in an instant, kneeling down beside her. “Just hold on.” 

Glimmers is so, so cold. There’s no pulse, and suddenly the body in front of her is identical to the one she’d left this morning. The slightest bit taller, purple-pink hair falling down past her shoulders and brushing against her round face. The sunflower pendant of the necklace Adora had given her on her last birthday, it rests on a chest that rises and falls only shallowly.

Desperate hands clutch at her shirt, her nails are still the shimmery dark blue Bow painted them at their last sleepover. Her knuckles are white and trembling, and Adora begins to shake, uncontrollably.

Her stomach sinks straight to hell as Glimmer smiles at her, so desperate and so pained that Adora thinks it’ll shatter them both.

“Why didn’t you save me, Adora?”

Glimmer closes her eyes and goes limp.

______________________________________________________________________________

She wakes up screaming.

“Glimmer!?”

First it’s the pain in her chest that makes her bolt upright, eyes frantic. Her vision is blurry, dread chokes her throat and her breath is rapid and fleeting.

Then the throbbing, swollen pain between her eyes is nearly blinding, and she loses the will to hold herself up. Falling back, she curls in on herself, the extreme throb taking every inch of her consciousness. Maybe she’s still screaming, she can’t tell.

She feels two hands grasp her shoulders, and the awful sensation doubles tenfold. Adora bats the hands away, groaning as she brings her knees to her chest.

The two hands return to her back, and she doesn’t have the mind space to fight them off. She can’t think about anything besides the all-consuming  _ fire  _ in her head.

The hands draw something like a circle into the skin of her back, a spell Adora can only vaguely remember.

It still feels like she’s being stabbed, but suddenly the pain begins to subside slightly, enough that she can open her eyes.

She grunts, her vision still cloudy and everything around her just shapeless blobs. She tries to summon her sword, but finds her arms too limp and heavy to move. 

She recognizes the spell now. It’s one Glimmers drawn on her too many times to count. A healing spell. 

She manages to pick her head up, turning it slightly to the side to see who’s drawing on her. Her breath leaves her harshly as she tries in vain to move the rest of her body.

At her side, there’s a blob of hazy pink. Her heart leaps, daring to hope-

“Glimmer?” She whimpers.

Her vision fades back into focus, she regains feeling in her limbs, and what was once pink is now sharply red. 

“It’s Teela, actually.”

Adora blinks. The woman in front of her is tall and skinny, with vibrant red hair twined into a complicated-looking braid. Her wide mouth is pulled into a frown, yet her brown eyes look relatively soft. 

And much too amused, Adora decides.

“Where am I?” She tries to awkwardly shuffle away, but a hand on her shoulder pushes her back down.

“Stop that.” She commands. “I’m not going to hurt you. You need to relax so I can-”

“What are you doing?!” Adora manages to rip the woman's hands off her before the blinding pain returns, and she hisses.

Teela rolls her eyes before roughly yanking her back. “Applying a mild painkiller. You know, so you can actually answer my questions?”

Adora just groans in return, the relief finally starting to take permanent effect.

_ Oh, she’s wearing a lab coat.  _ Adora thinks before shifting slightly to take in her surroundings.  _ Oh, and I’m shackled to the bed. _

Teela seems to follow her eyes to the cuff around her ankle. “Just a precaution. It’s not every day that we get ancient ships falling out of the sky.”

Adora tugs on the cuff experientially, but curls into as much as a defensive stance as she can. She still feels so weak and achy, like she’s just run a marathon without so much as a squat for a warm-up.

Still, the traits she’d worked so hard to break rear within her. “Who are you? And why am I here?”

“Like I  _ just  _ said, I am Teela.” The red haired woman stands and gestures to herself. “The best mystical arts physician on New Eternia, more or less.”

“New Eternia?” Adoras eyes go wide, and her pulse thuds. 

Teela ignores her. “As far as I can tell, you hit the Magnet Shield. Which,” She explains, looking at Adoras dumbstruck face, “Is basically a force surrounding our entire planet, and it’s meant to keep foreign ships  _ out.” _

“So, stranger.” Teela's voice turns steely, and she crosses her arms over her chest. “How’d  _ you  _ get in?”

Adora squints her eyes. The Horde never taught her much about interrogation tactics, except to never spill what’s important. 

Teela seems to understand this, face morphing into something resembling sympathy. “Look, I don’t like this any better than you do. Trust me, there are things I would  _ much  _ rather be doing right now. But I don’t want to hurt you, so how's about you tell me your name, and I can take this cuff off you, yeah?”

Adora darts her eyes quickly around the room. It looks like some kind of tent, the walls covered i crude shelves containing vaguely medicinal looking plants. The flaps of the tent flutter gently in the breeze, held loosely by a cord. It would be so very easy to escape if she could summon her sword. But then there’s another problem: Darla. If she’s as badly damaged as Adora was, then she’s gonna have to play all her cards to get out of this one.

But not her trump card. Not yet.

“I’m… uh… Ahiri?” Adora winces and hopes it sounds convincing. “I’m just… passing through on my way home. Home to my… pie farm. I have a pie farm.”

_ Please let me get out of this. Just let me go home and I’ll never ever complain again about being a guinea pig for Entrapta or tell Glimmer that her singing in the shower is too loud. _

_ Glimmer…  _

“Please.” The edges of her voice turn ragged, and it seems to move Teela just a little. “ _ Please,  _ I really need to get home.”

“I have people waiting on me and I can’t…” Adora stops, the visions in her dream flooding her mind.

_ Glimmers rejection, her dead eyes, her- _

The click of a key snaps her out of it. Teela looks up at her with eyes that seem mutedly subdued.

“I believe you.” She says softly. “Let’s get you up and walking, yeah?”

Gratitude floods Adoras systems and she thinks she might cry, Horde training be damned. Teela extends her hand, and Adora looks at her dubiously before accepting. Teela pulls her to her feet in a way that suggests she’s trying to be gentle and doesn’t have a lot of experience with it.

She stumbles as she stands and nearly crashes to the floor, before Teela catches her.

“You’ve been out for three days,” She scolds, shoving a walker in Adoras direction. “Take it easy.”

“Fine, fine.” Adora grumbles as she positions the walker and starts walking. “Whatever. Just take me to my ship so we can get out of here.”   
  
Teela furrows her eyebrows.  _ Uh oh. _

“Please?” Adora tries her best to put on a smiley face.

Teela shakes her head. “Sorry, you just reminded me a lot of… nevermind.”

“Your ship is in the Mech Yard over in the next squadron.” She continues. “I’ll try to get someone to look at it, maybe they can get it done in the next… month or so? I can try and get you set up with some housing until then.”

“Woah woah woah.” Adora shakes her head. “I meant soon _.  _ I need to get home  _ soon.” _

_ Now would be preferable,  _ she thinks.

Teela levels her with a devastating glare. “Your ship was in more pieces than your skull,  _ Ahiri the pie farmer,  _ It’s gonna take a little bit more than iron and sticky sap to fix it.”

Adora swallows, tears prinking at her eyes. She reaches shaky hands up to wipe them away. 

It’s still ridiculous to her that crying is something her body is naturally programmed to do when she’s upset.it solves nothing, and it shows weakness. But Perfumas told her more than a dozen times it’s okay, and that the en-dolphins (or something like that) will make her feel better when she’s done.

Glimmer makes her feel way better than crying does, but right now all she can think about is her dead body in her arms and the possibility of not seeing her or hearing her or protecting her for a  _ month or more. _

Teela hesitates before resting a tentative hand on her shoulder. It makes her flinch, her dream still fresh in her mind. Teela seems to get the message and removes it before speaking.

“Look… I know a guy.” She sighs. “My best friend. I’ll ask him to take a look, okay? He’s kind of a tech nerd.”

“... why are you helping me?” Adora sniffles. “It’s not like I’m not grateful but… why?”

Teela shrugs, though her face looks a little confused. “I don’t know. I just… you feel kind of familiar? Like I know you somehow?”

“Uh?” Adora questions, stepping back a little. “Thanks, but I have a -”   


Teelas face turns as red as her hair, and she waves her arms in front of her violently. “Not like that!”

“I just… forget I said anything.” She shakes her head. “Let’s go.”

Teela opens the flap of the tent, and Adora shuffles out awkwardly, trying to get the feel of using a walker.

She squints her eyes against the bright light, and as they adjust she sees… more tents.

“Uh…” 

Teela smirks. “Welcome to the Grasslands. Watch your step, there’s snakes afoot.”

Adora shudders but stumbles along the dirt path.

“It doesn’t all look like this,” Teela says as she guides Adora along. “We’ve got cities and all that too. You just so happened to crash land in the middle of the biggest mining operation we’ve had in years.”

“What are you mining?” Adora asks idly, eager to keep the focus of the conversation off herself.

“Magic.” Teelas eyes sparkle.

Adora stops in her tracks. “Wait, you guys have-”

“Oh, it’s  _ so  _ interesting.” Teela face fills with unrestrained glee. “Honestly, if we didn’t need a physician so badly, you have no  _ idea  _ how much time I could spend researching all the old structures and systems built into this place!”

“Wait,  _ what-” _

Suddenly Teela stops. “We’re here.”

Maybe she’s spent too much time with Entrapta lately, but Adora was expecting something a little more technologically advanced. She’s used to chrome and neon lights, not-

“Wow, it’s a cabin.” Adora says drily. 

Calling it a cabin is a nicety. It looks more like a shed with a porch, and it’s approximately the same color as the dirt beneath their feet.

“Watch it.” Teela glares, before walking up to the battered door. “He’s the one person who actually lives out here, okay? I don’t know how he stands it either.”

She ascends the steps. “I’m gonna go in and ask him, okay? Just wait here and  _ don’t _ make a scene.”

Adora rolls her eyes and shouts after Teela as the door swings shut. “Like I ever go  _ looking  _ for trouble!”

Silence falls around her, Wind whistles through the knee-high grass, waving like an ocean all around her. It’s unnerving, the way she doesn’t feel apprehensive about being left alone here. It’s entirely too quiet, it seems like the entire camp is deserted.

_ Probably at that mine Teela mentioned _ , she decides. Craning her neck, she can see mountains in the distance, mostly hiding the very tops of tall spires. 

She sighs. Her nerves feel frazzled. No matter how curious about the strangeness of this planet, the fact that it has magic, that magic was restrained, and the fact that she managed to somehow survive it, more than anything she still wants to be home. If this mysterious friend of Teelas can’t fix Darla, then maybe he at least has something she can use to get a message out to someone in Etheria. 

Abruptly a soft hissing noise fills her ears. She looks down, and in a patch of taller grass a magenta colored snake slithers out of the grass, before pooling itself into a pile. It seems to right itself before noticing her.

Remembering Teelas warning, Adora tentatively shuffles back. But the snake doesn’t advance towards her, just stares at her with blinking eyes. 

Adora relaxes slightly. It’s… kind of cute?

“Hey lil guy,” She says, attempting to bend down, “What are you doing here?”

“Teela made it seem like you guys weren’t very friendly, but you don’t seem to be doing much.” Adora stretches her hand out, and the snake seems to inspect it curiously. 

“Besides,” She mock-whispers, “I’m She-Ra. I don’t think a little thing like you can hurt me.”

Then the snake makes a hollow trilling sound before rising up to meet Adoras hand. It tilts slightly, and Adora gets the picture.

“Aww,” She cooes, “Now that’s the second cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Sorry lil guy, but you don’t outrank my girlfrie-”   
  
“Get away!” Teela comes charging out of the house towards her, arms and hair askew. “Get out of here!”

“What-” Teela yanks Adora behind her and throws her arms out in a protective stance.

“Get in the house!” Teela screams, backing up amd bumping into her. “Now!”

“It’s just a harmless… little… oh.” Adora watches as the snake hisses at them both, before the deep purple in it’s scales fades to a bright red. “Uh oh.”

“Just… back away. Very slowly and calmly.” Teela grits through her teeth. “And maybe it won’t kill us and everyone else in a forty mile radius.”

“Is it… getting bigger?” Adora asks as her knees hit the back of the cabins porch. “Because it sure isn’t getting smaller.”   


“Oh, f-”

Whatever Teela says next is drowned out by the  _ roar  _ the snake unleashes as it expands rapidly, growing until it’s already taller than the house.

Teela freezes. “Oh gods, we’re gonna die.”

“Where’s it’s poison sacs?” It’s easy fro Adora to take command of a crisis these days, and even easier for her to take down one little monster. “I can take it.”   
  
That one earns her a hard slap to the head. “Are you crazy?! You couldn’t even walk here and you want to fight a Slithering Serpent?”

Adora shrugs. 

She was hoping to keep She-Ra under wraps, but… well, it’s not like Teela bought her fake story anyways.

“For the Honor of Greyskull!”

The beast itself is relatively easy to take down. She doesn’t even need to kill it, one blow to the upper trachea and it shrinks down to its regular size, hissing and spitting at her as it crawls back from whence it came.

The fact that she was on top of the snake when it immediately shrunk? Well, she’s had worse first impressions as She-Ra.

She coughs as she hauls herself to her feet, trying to get the wind back in her lungs. She pounds on her sternum before her body remembers how to breathe. Dusting herself off, she turns back to Teela, a sheepish grin on her face.

“Um, about that pie farm?”

Teela stands slack jawed on the porch, braced hard against a railing like she’ll fall if she tries to stand.

“It’s you.” Her hands fly to her face. “ Oh my stars, it’s  _ you. _ ”

“Uh, yeah.” Adora rubs the back of her neck. “Sorry I lie-”   
  
“Adam!” Teela turns her face towards the door and screams. “Get out here! NOW!”

Adora knits her brows. “Are… you injured? I can help with that.”

Teela doesn’t respond, just stares at her with what sort of looks like tears.

“What-”

There’s a loud bump and clang behind the door, before it swings open with enough force to crack one of the logs behind it.

At first all Adora can make of the blur that flies towards Teela is a messy mop of blond hair. A black gloved hand reaches for her, but Teela bats it away. She points to Adora, with a shaky hand, and Adora watches the second figure turn towards her in slow motion.

They’re wearing big, bulky goggles covering the top half of their face, and the only distinct feature Adora can see is a pointed chin. But she doesn’t miss the full-body  _ wobble  _ that seems to go through them, or the little half step they take before ripping the goggles off.

And it’s enough to make her drop her sword.

_ Oh stars, that’s  _ **_my_ ** _ face. _

“...  _ Adora? _ ” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did honestly try to watch some clips from the original he-man series to get a feel for these characters but I just… I just couldn’t do it. 80’s cartoons are kind of a trip for me.
> 
> Fun fact: most of this chapter and the next were plotted while sitting next to a chicken.
> 
> Also: He-Man is not a thing in this universe. If you’re looking for that sort of thing, I suggest you read chapter 15 of Adora: Vagabond of the Etherian Cosmos by etherianfrigatebird (happy birthday btw wifey, I hope you have a great one)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I... have no excuse.
> 
> School started, and that's insane. Family drama!
> 
> But now I am here and you all must suffer the consequences
> 
> (I am so so so so sorry)

The floor is pebble-gray. This is what Adora chooses to focus on.

It's covered in dirt and tiny metal shavings, and it's well worn. It looks like it's been a long time since anyones swept or washed it. Idly, she rubs her shoe over one of the many filling in the concrete. Someone, once upon a time, loved this floor, and took good care of it.

There’s a set of tire tracks that she's trying desperately to ignore, because if she follows them with her eyes she’ll see Darla, broken into far too many pieces, and her heart will break with it. If she looks a little further, she’ll see Teela, quietly chatting with-

Adora sighs sharply, and slides down against the wall she's leaning against. She pulls her knees to her chest and buries her head in them, trying to make herself small as possible.

_ Try to pick one thing to focus on and move from there.  _ Perfuma most certainly did not mean the floor when she’d told Adora that, but that’s what she's getting. Footsteps approach her, and she pulls herself even tighter.

It's terribly rude, but so is the screaming, yelling, and ranting that she feels tempted to do.

“Hey.” 

Instinctively, Adora pulls herself a little tighter. She can hear Teela scolding from the other end of the room, reminding…  _ the person…  _ that she needs space. All she hears is a little shuffling in response.

“You… uh…” She hears feet shuffle awkwardly in front of her. “Will you try and eat something, please?”

Her traitorous stomach betrays her, gurgling loudly, and she concedes a little defeat by poking her head out. She tries to focus on the food, and not the face that makes her head spin even faster.

“Teela said you haven’t eaten anything since you woke up so… here you go?”

The bowl itself is chipped, and from the slight sheen of its polish she can tell it was only just washed. The berry colored broth it contains smells heavenly, though. Slowly, she reaches out.

Taking it into her hands, she savors the warmth before taking a tentative sip. 

A scene flashes before her eyes. Stars, something big and warm surrounding her, gurgles of laughter. It's so achingly familiar, and yet dug from so deep inside of her that she cannot help what comes with it. Fuzzy remembrances of things she’d assumed were mere fantasies, projected in the mind of a child grown up in a world that moved too fast and too cruel.

She retches, slapping her hand over her mouth to avoid vomiting.

“I’m sorry!”  _ He _ reaches for her immediately, immediately yanking his hand back. “You used to like this flavor before and I thought… I’m sorry.”

“...No, it’s good.” She wipes her mouth and tries to force a smile on her face. “I’m just…”

Blue eyes, familiar and yet foreign, look back at her. “This is kind of a lot to take in.”

“I’m sorry.” His shoulders slump. “This isn’t exactly how I pictured this would all go.”

“I didn’t even know I had a brother before today.” She confesses. “I didn’t… I guess I just accepted that I’d never know where I came from.”

“... my name is Adam.” He pulls the tray back from her, quickly. “I thought you might not know tha-”

There's a loud  _ thwack  _ as Teela walks over, slapping him on the side of his head. “I told you to give her  _ space,  _ genius.”

_ Adams _ ' grin is wide and slightly goofy, and Adora thinks she’s going to throw up.

“Pretty sure she’s had enough  _ space  _ to last a while,” He jokes. “Considering that's where she just came from.”

Teela groans, Adam snickers. Adora begins to feel something she’s, unfortunately, very familiar with.

“Should I, uh…” She gestures between them, looking desperately to Teela for help. “Are you two-”

Adam looks confused, but Teela bursts out laughing.

“Me and him?” She doubles over laughing. “Oh man, no way!”

“Oh,” Adam says, catching on. “Yeah, no. Not my type. Also a girl.”

“And that kind of stuff is just,” Teela shrugs, “Not my thing.”

“That’s… not going to be a problem, is it?” Adam says, looking back at her. She's caught off guard by the vulnerability in his body language.

Even though her stomach is still turning because  _ eyes eyes eyes,  _ she manages a snort. “My girlfriend would be furious if it was.”

Teela laughs even harder, but Adam still looks at her curiously. She shrinks.

“Anyway, uh…” Adora fumbles. “So what's the word on Darla?”

“Darla?” Teela furrows her eyebrows. “Who’s Darla?”

“It’s the ship. “ Adora feels the tips of her ears turning red. “The ship is named Darla. We don’t need to talk about it.”

“Oh!” Adams' face perks up. “I do that too!”

He scurries away, while Teela rolls her eyes. 

“Oh great.” She sighs. “Now look what you’ve started.”

Adam sprints back, his face aglow and his arms full. He sets the gadgets down gently in front of her before spreading them out.

“This is Astrid,” He says, holding up a stick with  _ far  _ too many spikes on it. “Very useful. Especially when Teelas mad at me.”

Ignoring the squawking from said redhead, he holds up what looks like a cross between a raggedy dog and a chainsaw.

“This is Karen,” He says wrinkling his nose. “We only use this one when the toilet clogs up.”

“And this is Amelia!!” He says beaming, and okay, that one's just a screwdriver.

Adora smiles, and then catches herself. It’s still a lot to take in. Her head still spins and she’s not sure how she’s going to survive if every food causes a reaction like that. But it's good to know that her… her…  _ relative....  _ Is not something to be afraid of.

“And this is Gabby. Get it? Because it-”

“Yes, we know,  _ it grabs. _ ” Teela pinches the bridge of her nose and pushes her glasses back up on her face. “Can we get back to the ship now please?”

Adam looks up at Teela with another toy clutches in his hands, and  _ oh,  _ **_that's_ ** _ what Bow means when he says I have puppy dog eyes.  _

“But who wouldn’t want to meet these guys?” Adam pleads. “Especially someone who also names all their tech?”

“Adam, you need help. Or a roommate.” Teela sighs, then turns to Adora. “So, about-”

“I didn’t name Darla.” Adora smiles sheepishly. “And I definitely didn’t build her either.”

“Ah.” Adams' face freezes. “Then this is  _ very _ embarrassing.”

“Yes, it is.” Teela agrees. “Now, if you could please explain what the plan is?”

“Oh, right.” Adam stands, then clears his throat. “Basically, I can fix it.”

Adora perks up. “Good!”

“But,” Teela cuts in. “It’s going to take a while. Less time than with anyone else, but a couple of weeks at best.”

Adora frowns. “Bad.”

Teela shrugs. “Take it or leave it.”

Adora sighs, frustrated. “Fine. Any chance you can get the communications board up and running first so I can get a message back home?”

Adam seems to shrink a little at that, but Teela shakes her head. “Even if you could get communications through the Magnet Shield, the engines got the worst of the damage. And the board-”

“-is wired to the engines.” Adora groans.  _ So this’ll be a rough few weeks for everyone. I wonder how much of her paperwork I’ll have to do before Glimmer forgives me for this one _

_ I wonder if she misses me yet. _

Adora tries to ignore the curdling feeling in her chest, and the voice that reminds her  _ she already does. _

“We’ll talk about it in the morning.” Teela yawns. “It’s getting late, and we should all get some sleep.”

“Are you sure?” Adam looks at her, before quickly looking away. “There’s just so much to do.”

From the look he throws at her, Adoras pretty sure that Adam means her. But she doesn’t miss the excited look he throws at Darla, either.

Adora raises her hand. “I wouldn’t mind pulling an all-nighter if we all joined in.”

Teela grumbles something under her breath that Adora can’t quite hear, but she makes out the words  _ two of them  _ before Teela claps her hands together.

“Nope!” She plasters on a very fake smile.“We’ll all do better work when we’re better rested.”

She takes Adoras arm. “Come with me, you can stay in the med tent until we find you somewhere else to stay.”

The memory of that place springs to the front of Adoras mind and she blanches. “Uh-”

“Wait!” Adam jumps, reaching out for both of them “Why don’t you both stay over?”

“Adam-"

“There’s plenty of room.” He averts his eyes, pointed not looking either of them in the face. “And we could get to work a lot faster tomorrow morning.”

Adora hesitates. On one hand, she needs time to process. On the other, this desperately familiar and unfamiliar house likely does not have copious amounts of medical instruments that remind her just a little too much of Shadow Weaver. And it also likely has a bed, where she can lull herself to sleep, half-hoping to wake up and have this whole day be just a dream.

“That's…”  _ An awful idea even by my standards.  _ “Fine, I guess.”

* * *

She can’t sleep.

Well, that’s not exactly true. She manages to fall asleep in the bed they give her, with scratchy sheets and too soft pillows, but also a mattress that's an acceptable level of firm.

But she still finds herself abruptly awake much too early, the room pitch black and the ghost of another nightmare on her lips.

_ “Glimmer!” _

She clutches at her chest as she bolts up, trying desperately to catch her breath. It takes her eyes a second to adjust. Her brain catches up not long after that, and she flops back down onto the bed. 

This one had been worse than the last. Glimmers eyes had turned into a sea of otherworldly green, laughing in a cold and otherworldly voice that was not her own. And this time the failsafe had made her  _ bleed. _

Adora shakes her head violently, and realizes that she’s not going to sleep a wink.

On nights like this, she’d either wake Glimmer, and the two of them would talk it out until they both fell asleep, or she’d slip quietly, silently out of bed and hit the training hall a little early.

But she can do neither, and the room is much too warm. She kicks the sheets off and bounces her leg aimlessly, cringing at the loud creak it makes. She rolls onto her side before she realizes. Narrowly catching herself before falling to the floor, she reminds herself that she’s not in her own bed.

Groaning, she forces herself to sit up and look out the window. The stars are still hanging overhead, and there’s no hint of light anywhere in the horizon.

The smart thing to do would be to stay in her room until one of the planet's suns comes up. Then she could either talk about her feelings (unlikely) or fill her time with work until she felt marginally better (much more likely). 

Adora considers it. Then she pulls out her sword, transforms it into a lantern, and begins her trek through the darkened house. 

From what she remembers, her room is at one end of a dark hallway. The room Teela has taken is right across from hers. Down the hall, it opens into a larger room where Adam sleeps on the couch. There’d been a locked door down the middle way, one that Adoras considers breaking into. But ultimately, she needs to get out of this house before she can even begin to think about what to do next.

As she pushes her door open, she pauses. Her ears strain, searching for any kind of noise. She hears soft snores behind Teelas door, and the floor creaks a little under her, but the night is silent.

She takes her first step slowly, shifting more and more weight into her step until she’s sure it won’t creak. When it doesn’t she sighs in relief. Then another, and another, until she finds herself standing at the end of the hall.

The front room itself isn’t very big at all. Two big windows spill stripes of moonlight across the carpeted floor, bouncing off the softly snoring figure on the couch. 

Adora freezes in her step. No matter how desperate she is to clear her head, she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to explain herself if Adam wakes up. But the thought of returning to that dark bedroom, and being trapped alone with her thoughts for the next several hours is excruciating, and so she presses on.

Her steps are tiny, shuffling carefully around the couch and inching ever so slowly towards the door. She’s nearly made it when the worst happens.

He rolls over. Adoras blood freezes.

But she sighs in relief when she sees his eyes still closed.

The door closes behind her just a little too loud, but the cool air that fills her lungs as she steps outside washes away her fears.

In Brightmoon, to pick a direction and start walking would be silly, because with her sensitivity to the planet she knows where she is, can often feel the life under her feet and trust it to lead her back home. Here, the dirt is just dirt, and it crunches under her as she begins walking aimlessly.

She hasn’t forgotten the snake incident from earlier, either, so she keeps the lantern trained low. She has a feeling that she won’t be seeing too much of them tonight though. She lets her eyes drift upwards, to the silvery moon and unfamiliar constellations overhead. 

She doesn’t know how long she walks, or how far she travels from the cabin before she stops. The field before her is grassy, overgrown. A few tall rocks scattered here and there, but nothing to see for miles except for grass that waves in an invisible wind.

Adoras stood in a lot of fields, in a lot of different places. But this one...

She has only one memory from before her life in the horde, the stars and gurgling that Light Hope had shown her all those years ago. She’d been too young to remember much else. Not where she was, or who she was, or how she’d felt in that moment. But she remembered the stars. 

There’s something different, though, from her memory. An object a few yards away that she can’t quite see the shape of. She inches closer, anxious.

Her heart catches in her throat.

Clearly having weathered the elements, and yet the tiny sheets and pillows inside remain intact as though it was prepared this morning. Its sides are smooth, and the board at its head has an inscription so worn down by sun and rain that she has to hold her lantern closer to see it. 

It’s a cradle. 

And it has her name on it.

Twenty five years later, and here she is.

“I thought I might find you here.”

Adora jumps, trips, and lands hard. She scrambles around, glaring at the intruder.

Adam backs up, raising his arms. “Hey, it's okay. I come out here sometimes too.”

Adora narrows her eyes. “I thought you were asleep.”

“And I thought you might get lost.” He sidesteps around her. “Besides, you snore really loud. I couldn’t sleep a wink.”

Adora scoffs, though she hears Glimmers relentless teasing in her head. “I do not.”   


“Do too.”

“Do not!”

Adam rolls his eyes but smiles. He reaches a hand down to help her up. After a second, she accepts it.

“This… this was mine, right?” Adora runs her hands along the faded, sunstreaked cloth. “I sort of… remember it?”

“Yeah, this is yours.” He moves to the other side of the crib, putting a space between them she's grateful for. “Mine used to be here too.” 

“What happened to it?” She asks, feeling a slight and strange feeling of loss at the sensation that she does not understand.

Adam shrugs. “One of the village blacksmiths just had a baby and I thought she could use it.”

“That must have been hard for you.” Adora hesitates. “You seem really… sentimental.”

“I guess.” He shrugs. 

The silence between them isn’t awkward, per se, but its uncomfortable. Adora squirms, wracking her brain for words to fill the gap.

“I’m sorry.” She blurts out, immediately regretting it. “This is kinda new to me.”

“Its okay.” Adam shrugs, perhaps a bit too forcefully. “This is probably a lot to take in.”

“Yeah.” She folds her arms around herself, unsure what to say next.

Adam sighs. “Let's get back to the house. Unfortunately Teelas right, we should all get some sleep.”

“Please, don’t tell her I said that.” He adds.

Adora doesn’t respond, her gaze focused now on the cradle, on the intricate details that she finds herself recognizing.

“You said earlier that this wasn’t how you imagined all this,” She gestures rapidly to herself, to him, to the space between them, “Would go. So what did you think would happen?”   


“What did I think would happen?” He steps a little closer to the cradle, crosses his arms and looks up at the dusty mobile hanging above it. “Or what did I want to happen?”

Adora sighs. “I guess… both?”

He reaches out for the smooth wood of the crib, and his face darkens. “I hoped I would find you, and you’d come back home with me. We’d… be a family, I guess. I didn’t really think that far ahead. I just knew that I wanted to find you.”

For a split second, Adora thinks she understands how it was. In this brief moment, she feels something akin to a connection between her and Adam. In the silence between them there is awkwardness, confusion and tripping over themselves. But they are connected by the curiosity she sees in his eyes, that she is sure is mirrored in her own. 

Her voice drops, her tone getting softer. “And… you thought?”

He looks her dead in the eyes then, with intensity and sorrow. 

“I thought you were dead.”

There's no hesitation, no pain in his voice. It's cold hard steel, jagged and resigned.

Despite herself, Adora takes a step back. “I’m-”

“I didn’t want to believe it.” The minor choke in his voice would be imperceptible to anyone else. “Didn’t happen until last year.”

“What…” She swallows. “What happened last year?”

He gives a breathy, mirthless laugh. “I stopped believing that wishing on stars would bring someone back from the dead.”

Something cracks inside Adora. She doesn’t recognize it, or the emotion that flows out of her in spades.

Her voice is barely above a whisper. “What happened to me?”

His face cracks, and then breaks all together, and he buries it in his hands. He stumbles back, and for a second Adora thinks he’ll collapse. But instead he pulls himself together enough to sit down in the mossy grassy, his head between his knees.

She pauses, awkwardly, before sitting down a few feet away from him. The wind picks up into a slight breeze, soft but loud enough that she leans in closer, desperate to hear.

“We weren’t even a year old yet.” He says finally. “So I don’t remember most of it. But I remember what other people said happened.”

“We were having a picnic.” A tiny, fond smile comes over his face. “And it was such a nice night, all the stars were out.”

“You were laughing.” Adora furrows her eyebrows. “And… I was too?”

“When we were together, everything was funny.” Adam's smile turns wistful. “I wish I could tell you what we were laughing about.”

“But then,” The smile slips from his face. “A man came towards us, heavily injured. Mom raced around, trying to gather all the things she needed to heal him, but by the time she turned around-”

“He was gone.” Adora finishes his sentence, frowning. “I know what happened after that. On my end, at least.”

“Mom never forgave herself.” Adam matches her frown. “And when I say everyone was looking for you, I mean  _ everyone.  _ It just… it didn’t make sense. Where did he go, where did he come from? Why would someone take just you, and leave me here?”

He huffs, but his voice has a tone of introspection. “ _ Why  _ did they leave me here?”

She knows that tone, the same one she’d spent long hours using herself during the war, and the same one she’s only found herself using sparingly these days. Usually during a session with Perfuma.

It’s not a question, not really. But she answers him anyway.

“She-Ra.” Adora sighs, nearly pulling out the sword before she stops herself. “It's a long,  _ long _ story. But the short answer is She-Ra.”

“That's…” Adam's face goes blank, and he fidgets. “That's a lot to take in.”

Adora chuckles mirthlessly. “Tell me about it.”

There's silence between them, and the wind picks up again. When it dies down Adora is shivering, and Adam seems nonplussed. It seems like the silence stretches for hours, and she’s about to suggest they both head inside when Adam turns to her.

“I missed you, Adora.”

She sighs, pulls her knees to her chest. “Adam, you don't even  _ know  _ me.”

He looks taken aback, and the force of her instant regret is enough to make her shiver, just a little.

“Thats…” She watches him swallow around a lump in his throat. “That's the first time you’ve ever called me by my name.”

Adora ducks her head to her chest, tries to organize all the messy thoughts in her head. It's easier than the complication in her heart.

“What's my favorite color, Adam?” She says finally. “Where did I grow up? What's my best friend's name?”

“I…” Adam trails off, frowning.

“It’s not your fault that you don’t know.” Adora fidgets, drawing even further away from him. “But you still don’t. And I just… I just can’t believe that we’re... family, not when all you know about me is that we have the same face.”

Adam buries his face in his knees then curls in on himself in a way that's much too tight to be comfortable. Adora reaches out towards him, but he uncurls rapidly, too fast.

His whole body is rigid, and the look in his eyes is downright wild with despair. But he relaxes a little when he sees her hand, and he sighs.

“Are you… are you happy?” He looks down at his hands. “Back on… this place you call home?”

She looks at him, dubiously.

He turns to her then, eyes shining. “Just… if you can honestly tell me that, I’ll drop it. I’ll get your ship fixed as soon as possible, and then you can fly away and forget this whole thing ever happened.”

_ Forget I ever happened. _

For a split second, Adora stays silent.

“If you’d met me a few years ago, I’d have had a different answer.” She says finally. “I grew up believing and doing a lot of things that I regret now.”

“You probably think finding the sword was the minute that changed my life, right?” She spares him a look, and he nods.

“That's what a lot of people think. That finding a magic sword and learning I had a “destiny” was what made me uproot my whole life.” She scoffs. “But that wasn’t it. Not even close."

“So what was it?” Adam looks at her, curious but guarded.

Adora relaxes slightly. “It’s not like there was one moment, really. I think it was- it was like, a bunch of moments all strung together until I didn’t recognize myself anymore. But I can tell you where it started.”

Adam nods, looking invested but saddened.

“My girl handed it back, and told me she believed in me.” Adora says softly, smiling down at the ground in front of her. “And now we’re both learning that what-ifs are not who we are.”

“I’m She-Ra, Princess of Power.” She closes her eyes, fights down the homesickness in her throat. “Savior of Etheria. Best friend to Master Maker Bow, occasional lab rat for Princess Entrapta. Current Salineas Swim Race champion, an awesome karaoke buddy, and the best mediation partner Perfuma says she’s ever had.”

“And somehow, girlfriend to Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon.” Her smile grows, until it overtakes her whole face. “The most stubborn, headstrong, amazing person I’ve ever known. She saved Etheria, and she saved  _ me,  _ and somehow she still looks at me like I make the suns rise in the morning.”

“And...” She pauses, before admitting. “There’s something  _ really _ important I need to ask her if-  _ when  _ I get home.”

Adam says nothing, only looks down silently sullen at the grass between his feet. His long blonde hair only half shields his face. 

But it's her face, and she recognizes the despair on it.

“I’m sorry about what happened.” She clenches her fists. “Really, I am. But I don’t need to know where I come from to know who I am.”

There's still a tiny part of her that stings with injustice. She should have been able to grow up with a family, in a place that she was loved. She should have been able to know all of Adams little quirks, been influenced by him and he by her, and she should’ve known exactly where she came from and why.

But she thinks about Glimmer, about Bow, about her family on Etheria. Thinks about how hard she worked to carve out a space to survive, before she learned she didn’t need to. Others made room for her.

That spark of anger seems miniscule in comparison to the love she has for her people, and her happiness at the life she’s made for herself.

And yet...

Maybe she owed it to some long-gone version of herself, the same little girl who spent long hours daydreaming about a family that she knew deep down she would never find. Or the girl who was a little older in age but a lot older in experience, trying to run away from a destiny she neither wanted nor felt she could escape.

Maybe it was for the version of herself who existed in this precise moment in time, who looked at her  _ brother,  _ and wondered how in the hell this had all happened.

“... but I think I’d like to know you too.” She admits softly.

His head shoots up, so shocked his eyebrows nearly touch his hairline. “Really?”

“This place can never be home for me.” She leans back to look up at the sky, at its unfamiliar constellations. “But it’s still where I came from.”

“I’m going home as soon as you and Teela can fix my ship,” She adds, noting how Adam seems to deflate a little at that. “But I wouldn’t mind catching up on everything I’ve missed, either.”

She opens her arms awkwardly, before catching herself. “Uh… usually someone wants to hug me after I make big emotional decisions lik-”

Adam flies into them before she realizes what's happening. And he only stays for a second, but the happy little laugh and the squeeze around her shoulder makes her feel happy and disgustingly sappy at the same time.

“We kind of got off on the wrong foot earlier.” Adam takes a deep breath, pulling away.“So allow me to introduce myself now.”

He stands, makes a comedically dramatic bow in front of her. “I am Adam of Eternia. Tech enthusiast and self proclaimed astronomy expert.”

“Adam.” She rolls his name in her tongue experimentally, noting how it feels less foreign than last time. “I’m Adora, and… you’re not going to make me repeat all that, are you?”

He laughs then, and so does she. Twin peals of laughter echo out into the dawn, and for the first time, it begins to dawn on Adora that she’s someone's  _ sister. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I promise the next chapter won't take three months......
> 
> (Once again I am so sorry)

**Author's Note:**

> Big big big thank you to Say_Anything/freezingmyblitzballs for letting me use Sparkle Butt. Please read... well, all of her stuff actually, She's really awesome 😂. But specifically her fic They don't have those in the Horde (links are being fucky).  
> Also her fic Heart of Courage, which was partly inspired by They Spill, Unfound! ITS SO GOOOOD.
> 
> this was supposed to be a nice, fluffy lil epilogue to clear some stuff up and that... didn't happen... so now I don't know whether to call this an epilogue or a sequel 😂
> 
> (osprey please don't divorce me for this)


End file.
